We are all guilty of it, some worse than others. Homes all over America are brimming with clutter. Do the closets in your home trigger a small avalanche every time you open them? Are your basements and attics filled to capacity with boxes of your adult children’s baby clothes and toys? Do you have holiday decorations from 25 years ago tucked away in corners of your home? The typical American has the tendency to hoard objects and it is becoming an epidemic.
Most of us have more objects entering the house than we have exiting the house. It does not take long before all this stuff over burdens the storage systems in the home. We just keep shopping and bringing in more stuff than we are getting rid of. Eventually our counters are muddled with papers, our cabinets are stuffed to the max, and our garage is no longer a place we can store the car. Instead the garage is just another room filled to capacity with boxes and bins of junk.
All this clutter is suffocating us and stealing our time and energy. It complicates our life and causes stressful situations when we spend our time searching for missing items. Clutter can impact our social life as well, making us afraid to let our friends into our home. It's time to simplify our life and get rid of the clutter! By clearing out the clutter in your home you begin to reclaim your space and your time. Living a simplified life with less stuff will allow you to live in harmony with out all the chaos. Own less and live more, keep it simple.

Clutter often takes many years to accumulate and will take some time to eliminate. Just remember that de-cluttering is an ongoing lifestyle not a finite project. Many people feel overwhelmed and fear just the thought of de-cluttering the home. It doesn’t have to be that excruciating, there are actually some creative ways to get started.
Getting started can be the hardest part. You have to begin your war against clutter one draw or cabinet at a time. Just pick one area of the house and focus on that. It is best to start a de-cluttering session by designating one hour a day to it. If that still seems over whelming for you, start with five minutes a day. You will be surprised what you can accomplish in the clutter war in just five minutes. Remember that any type of progress is better than none. The important thing is to make sure to stick with it each day, or even every other day. Avoid planning an all day de-cluttering session that involves your whole house, as you will never get around to it.
Donate or dispose of items you no longer have any use for. Look at items that you feel an attachment to and ask yourself the following three questions: Do I love it? Will I have a need for it again within 3 months? Will I miss it if I throw it away? If you answered no to the questions then you can safely dispose of the item. If you answered a definite yes to these questions, take those items and put them into an organizational bin. Once the bin is full place it in an out of way place in your home and revisit it in about 6 months. If you were able to go that long without needing anything from the bin, chances are it is time to donate or dispose of the items. Don’t forget charitable donations to the Salvation Army and Goodwill, etc. are tax deductible.
Probably one of the best ways to let your junk go is to watch an episode of Hoarders on television.